a mix of a day

Really starting to get worried about my inability to sleep now, it's been building for a few days now, comming to a head last night with some weird sleep deprived sketches. For that reason I had a lie in this morning, and then had to go into town to buy up ingredients for the meal I'm cooking my girlfriend tommorow (I have trouble heating up a frozen pizza).

Anyway.. in the limited time I've had I've completed the shots on the road safety video. I just need to cut it all together now and present it to the client. Based on what they say I may be able to wrap it, or alternatively work back into it. Completing this project has reminded me that I have to have a web site to hold my work, as I'd really like to show this video off. So that'll be the next project.

And as for the Diorama project...

Dev Diary: Day 7 - 13/02/2006
A redesign on the bike, and a pitch for our idea

Today I put in a couple of hours on the project. Jules had objections to my bike, referring to it as a 'kid's bicycle'. Though I didn't feel that was entirely true, I did feel there were ways I could extend the bike to make it look a bit better. I have combined a sketch he did for me, and my original design, to come up with something of a compromise. This has been presented to the group via the forum, hopefuly we can iron this out in tomorow's design and production meetings.
My other job for the week was to produce the design brief.. I've placed it on the forum, but here it is for the readers of my blog...

Narrative
The game begins at dusk. A student stands amongst the protestors in the middle of a crowded road. Reaching down slowly into his bag he pulls out a homemade bomb. As he lifts it up those around him back off in horror, screaming for him to stop. He doesn't listen, throwing it at one of the riot police surrounding the protestors. It explodes, killing instantly a number of police. Running out of the group through the hole he has made he smashes the padlock on a nearby electric bike, jumping onto it and speeding down a back alley.

Gameplay
The gameplay can roughly be split into two sections. The first takes place on the back of the motorcycle, speeding through back alleys and accross the smaller roads of the city. This incorporates simple driving dynamics and physics to produce exciting gameplay. The second section takes place on foot, as the character is forced from his bike by a depleted energy cell. He runs and leaps accross rooftops chased by police helicopters, the animations involved making use of parkour movements in order to produce exciting and dynamic characterization. The player can lose in two ways, either by falling to their death in the rooftop section, or by slowing down too much and being caught by the ever present police persuers

Primary Challenges
- vehicle physics and implementation (produced by modifying HL2's buggy code)
- main character moddelling and animation
- world building and texturing
- sound work

Advantages of this Concept
- enemy presence can be implied by sound and lighting, no need to model and animate multiple characters and vehicles
- all based on code employed in the original HL2 solo campaign
- simple control system that's instantly accessible to players.

Right, thats it for the day.. i'm gonna go play splinter cell ct (7.99 in Game, a bargain) and have a rest :)